Ease of manufacturing/standardization of parts. The drive-up ATMs are basically the same model they put in shopping malls and gas stations. The machines need to provide services to the blind in those indoor locations, so it is cheaper/easier for the manufactures to make them all with Braille buttons.

I once had a job in a kitchen, with a lovely young lady. She worked hard and was good to work with, but...

After a couple of weeks I'd noticed that there was always a small piece of raw meat on a cling-film-wrapped saucer on the bottom shelf of the fridge, refreshed regularly so it didn't go off.

I queried the practice with my co-worker, who told me it was 'for hygiene reasons'. When I asked for more info she pointed out the line in the food-hygiene manual which said 'raw meat must always be kept on the bottom shelf of the fridge'.

Giving a little benefit of doubt (just a little), but is it possible that this story happened in some country where progressive government rules mandate accessibility features?

I mean, here in the US, we have people who make money off suing small businesses under the ADA because their signs on the handicapped parking spots are 1-inch too high or low (https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/handicapped-parking-sign-too-low-see-you-in-court)

Seems like some folks are missing the point here. The device already provides audio feedback (and let's assume that the driver has a way to hear it through a headset or whatever). So the real facepalm here is asking it to be compatible with a screen reader. That's roughly on the same order of nonsense as providing text-to-speech for movie captions.

Seems like some folks are missing the point here. The device already provides audio feedback (and let's assume that the driver has a way to hear it through a headset or whatever). So the real facepalm here is asking it to be compatible with a screen reader. That's roughly on the same order of nonsense as providing text-to-speech for movie captions.

^^^ We have a winner! ^^^ That's exactly what I was thinking - it would be redundant to add a screen reader to a GPS app. It would also be confusing, since it would read the names of all the streets and avenues that are visible on the screen. And when the map moves it would probably have to start over.

"That's roughly on the same order of nonsense as providing text-to-speech for movie captions." -- actually has some real uses, many movies are captioned in a multitude of languages, by converting to audio, you can listen to them in any language that is comfortable to you - often a better experience than reading the screen while trying to focus on the visual aspects.

In addition to the other reasons, blind people are still technically allowed to be passengers in vehicles, and even ride in the back seat, so it shouldn't be unthinkable that they might use a drive-up ATM.

If your interpretation of the story is correct, then your point is absolutely valid. I interpreted to mean "the hardware is capable of audio output, but it was determined that audio was not appropriate for this use case."

I'm solidly on Team Corporate Policy, here. As developers we have an overwhelming tendency to assume that our users all have normal hearing, normal sight, and normal ability to control input devices (among many, many other assumptions). Those assumptions are generally wrong and leave out a large number of potential users.

So this particular software is designed for motorcycle riders; do we know that it wouldn't be useful to a blind pedestrian? Or for that matter, a blind motorcycle passenger? Might they also want to know about traffic conditions? Maybe not, but I've never been a blind pedestrian before, so I honestly don't know. I certainly think it is a mistake to assume that blind pedestrians have their own software that does the same thing, so that we don't need to include them in the user-base.

The points about the device already providing audio feedback miss that it's only audio driving instructions, not audio of every bit of text on the screen and where the buttons are and which one you just pressed.

Plus, what about the people who are blind and deaf and need to hook up a braille terminal to get their driving instructions?

Do you mean a blind passenger using the audio facility of the device to then repeat the instructions to the driver? Why not let the driver look at the screen directly? Or listen to the audio instructions directly?

I think that audio GPS is way more secure than any screen version, and it should be compulsory that the screen turns off as soon as the vehicle get over 10 kmh, so you are not distracted from looking at the road, but that's another debate.

Scariest thing I heard of in a long while (the BBC did a feature): there's blind long-distance runners that like to get their fix running along the side of freeways/motorways. Just considering that is a brown trouser moment for me.

While you are, as a matter of fact, technically right about the missing sentence, pedantic or not. The next sentence is, in fact, the rest of the sentence, if you change the fullstop after "otherwise" to a comma, of which, there have been too many, already.

I don't mean to spoil the circlejerk here, but what about people with uncorrectable farsightedness? Doesn't impact driving, does impact using a map. (And don't bother to bring up having to read the speedometer, obviously reading a big red arrow is different to reading text.)

A screen reader would be useful especially if the device were button-operated. Ad-hoc audio feedback is not the same as having e.g. menu options read back to you.

Or what if a visually impaired passenger wanted to set up the device in advance?

The article clearly stated that it also provided directions, presumably textual, not to mention the obvious fact that there would be a menu system for setting the thing up. Getting the device to iterate, audibly, through the various elements of the display (next direction, estimated time of arrival, distance etc.) seems like a perfectly reasonable feature to me. And again, what about entering a destination in the first place?

I used to go running with a workmate who liked to run with his eyes closed. First time we went out together I was a bit behind, but I looked up to see him crash, full running speed, into a bus shelter. I had to keep going with him after that just to make sure he didn't do that again!

“...many movies are captioned in a multitude of languages, by converting to audio, you can listen to them in any language that is comfortable to you - often a better experience than reading the screen while trying to focus on the visual aspects.”